Fact Check: India Didn’t Take Loan From World Bank Between 2015-2018?

Reportedly, a WhatsApp forward claiming India in over 70 years of its independence, only did not take any loans between 2015 and 2018 which falls under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance, has been making rounds on social media.

What is the claim?

The message, according to The Quint reads, “In the 70-year history of Hindustan, there are only 3 years in which Hindustan did not take loans of one rupee from World Bank. And they are – 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18.”

Similar messages also made rounds on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp in 2018 as well as in 2017. AltNews conducted a fact check in 2018 which revealed that a Twitter handle @Sagrika4india which is followed by railway minister Piyush Goyal’s Office shared the same post. The post today has 1,277 likes and over 450 retweets.

What is the reality?

The Logical Indian went through World Bank data of three years which showed that between 1/1/2015 and 31/12/2018, a whopping 66 projects were funded by international financial institutions. One of the biggest loans, worth US $1.5 billion, was issued in favour of the Swachh Bharat Mission Support Operation on 15 December 2015, reported AltNews.

Moreover, a report published by the World Bank in 2016 showed that India is the largest recipient of loans among all countries since it became independent. Between 1945 and 2015, World Bank lent $102.1 billion to India. The amount only went higher up in the next three years.

The Logical Indian take

As citizens of the country, we have a certain responsibility. While trolls and parody accounts have taken the responsibility upon themselves to share as much false information as possible, it is our responsibility to differentiate between what is true and what isn’t, while making others aware about the issue too.

Creating or sharing fake news is never justified. We have a responsibility to verify everything that we post on the internet. To ensure that our national debate is healthy and well-informed, each and every one of us has a responsibility of treating what we read with a pinch of salt, a spoonful of doubt, and a flood of research.

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